Written Answers Monday 14 June 2010

Scottish Executive

Child Poverty

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the draft strategy on child poverty will be available for consultation.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government aim to issue a draft strategy for consultation in autumn 2010.

Child Poverty

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to prepare a national report based on its preferred indicator in single outcome agreements for measuring child poverty.

Alex Neil: There are no Scottish Government plans to produce a national report based around any single SOA indicator.

  The Scottish Government’s current preferred indicator of child poverty at a local level is the "percentage of children in each Local Authority that live in households dependent on out of work benefits OR Child Tax Credit more than the family element" which is calculated from HM Revenue and Customs data.

  It is available for all local authorities in Scotland and the rest of the UK. It is published on the HMRC website as well as being available to download on the government income and poverty statistics website and the Scottish Neighborhood Statistics website at http://www.sns.gov.uk/, a site that is a popular source of data for local authority single outcome agreements.

Crime

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many murders have been recorded in Strathclyde in each six-month period in each year since 2007, broken down by police division.

Kenny MacAskill: The following table contains the number of victims currently recorded as victims of murder in the Strathclyde police force area.

  Victims Currently1 Recorded Victims of Murder, Strathclyde Police Force Area, Broken Down by Local Authority Area2, 2006-07 to 2008-09

  

Local Authority Area
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09


April - September
October - March
April - September
October - March
April - September
October - March


Argyll and Bute
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 


East Ayrshire
 1 
 1 
 - 
 - 
 1 
 4 


East Dunbartonshire
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 


East Renfrewshire
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 
 - 


Glasgow City
 15 
 12 
 15 
 9 
 17 
 8 


Inverclyde
 2 
 3 
 2 
 3 
 1 
 1 


North Ayrshire
 - 
 2 
 2 
 - 
 - 
 3 


North Lanarkshire
 3 
 5 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 3 


Renfrewshire
 1 
 1 
 3 
 1 
 2 
 2 


South Ayrshire
 - 
 2 
 1 
 - 
 3 
 1 


South Lanarkshire
 2 
 3 
 2 
 2 
 3 
 3 


West Dunbartonshire
 3 
 - 
 3 
 2 
 - 
 3 


Strathclyde
 27 
 29 
 31 
 20 
 29 
 28 



  Notes:

  1. Source: Scottish Government Homicide Database, as at January 2010.

  2. The information held centrally cannot be broken down further than local authority area.

Diabetes

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25079 by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 July 2009, what the figures are for patients with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin pump therapy as of August 2009, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The latest routinely-available information on the number of Scottish patients receiving insulin pump therapy was reported on page 22 of the Scottish Diabetes Survey 2009 . This information, which shows the position at the end of 2009, is set out in the following table:

  Number of People with Type 1 Diabetes on Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (CSII or Insulin Pumps) as a Percentage of all those with Type 1 Diabetes

  

NHS Board
Type 1 Population
Number of Patients
Percentage


Ayrshire and Arran 
2,234 
9 
0.4%


Borders 
596
23
3.9%


Dumfries and Galloway 
871 
12
1.4%


Fife 
1,896 
83
4.4%


Forth Valley 
1,526 
24
1.6%


Grampian 
2,976 
59
2.0%


Greater Glasgow and Clyde 
5,923 
56
0.9%


Highland 
1,688 
19
1.1%


Lanarkshire 
3,454
38
1.1%


Lothian 
4,019 
142
3.5%


Orkney 
118 
3
2.5%


Shetland 
114 
2
1.8%


Tayside 
1,771 
82
4.6%


Western Isles 
181
1
0.6%


Scotland 
27,367 
553
2.0%



  Source: Scottish Diabetes Survey 2009:

  http://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/Publications/Scottish%20Diabetes%20Survey%202009.pdf.

  The revised Diabetes Action Plan, which we expect to be published shortly, will include a section on intensive insulin therapy as well as details of each NHS board’s planned investment in intensive insulin therapy, and the associated structured education up to 2012-13.

Emergency Services

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives are being taken to share premises and services between police, fire and ambulance service in local communities in order to meet efficiency savings, improve joint working and protect frontline core and emergency care services.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government is committed to improving the quality and efficiency of all Scotland’s public services. The ability to simplify and share resources is the right way to deliver real benefits at a local level, while helping to protect front line services. The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting and facilitating collaboration between services at a local level.

  Scotland’s three emergency services have already delivered a number of successful joint initiatives, with a number of others in the planning stages. Some examples are quoted below

  Scottish Ambulance Service / Police

  Joint Ambulance and Police Station in Afford, Grampian.

  Imminent sharing of premises with Police in Lairg, Highlands and Islands.

  Scottish Ambulance Service / Fire and Rescue Services

  There are a number of Fire Stations around the country used as tactical deployment points for ambulance crews to enable a quick response to the public.

  Volunteer Fire Fighters in remote and rural communities have been trained to give vital first aid to patients while the ambulance is on its way.

  The Scottish Fire Services College has trained over 70 members of the Scottish Ambulance Service, Special Operations Response Teams in the use of breathing apparatus.

  Scottish Ambulance Service/ Fire and Rescue Services / Police

  National tripartite fleet initiative through collaborative procurement of fleet products and joint maintenance including fleet workshops in Ayr, Kilwinning, Lochgilphead and Glenrothes.

  In addition, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and the Scottish Government are jointly hosting a collaboration event on 22 June 2010 to facilitate dialogue between the Scottish Police Service and other parts of the public sector about the potential scope for future collaboration and sharing services.

Finance

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs it estimates were saved in Scotland in 2009 and have been saved in 2010 by the discretionary fiscal stimulus.

John Swinney: Discretionary fiscal stimulus measures were introduced by countries across the world in response to the onset of the global downturn, and the fall in global demand. These actions have helped support demand and jobs in many countries, including Scotland.

  The Scottish Government introduced a discretionary fiscal stimulus through the accelerated capital spending programme - a key element of the Economic Recovery Plan. It is estimated that the accelerated capital spending programme – which involved the acceleration of £293 million capital spending into 2009-10, and £53 million into 2008-09 – has supported over 5,000 jobs in the Scottish economy over the period.

  In December 2008 the Scottish Government estimated the potential impact on the Scottish economy of the temporary 2.5% reduction in the rate of VAT – a key element of the discretionary fiscal stimulus package introduced by the UK Government at the 2008 Pre-Budget Report. This analysis, using the Scottish Government input output model and applying Treasury assumptions regarding the proportion of the VAT cut that would be saved by consumers, estimated that this action would directly support around 5,400 jobs in Scotland. However, the analysis estimated that if the same level of support (around £1 billion) was directed towards capital expenditure this would have directly supported around 10,000 jobs in the Scottish economy in 2009. This analytical note was published via the Scottish Parliaments Information Centre in December 2008 (Bib. number 47241).

Health

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHSScotland publications there have been in each year since 2007.

Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not held centrally.

Health

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on publicly funded health publications in each year since 2007.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on expenditure on all publicly funded publications beyond those published by the Scottish Government is not held centrally. The Scottish Government Health Directorates spent £113,968 on published documents in 2007-08, £270,642 in 2008-09, and £132,773 in 2009-10. These are public-facing health documents that have been published either in hard copy or electronically and includes production and publishing costs.

Health

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many publicly funded health publications there have been in each year since 2007.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the number of publicly funded publications beyond those published by the Scottish Government is not held centrally. The Scottish Government Health Directorates published 39 health documents in 2007-08, 92 in 2008-09, and 80 in 2009-10. These are public-facing health documents that have been published either in hard copy or electronically.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how patient experiences are taken into account in terms of developing Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is part of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, a special health board, whose role is to support NHS boards and their staff to improve the quality of healthcare in Scotland.

  SIGN has a range of policies to ensure that patient and carer experiences and preferences are included in the development of their guidelines. These include patient focussed literature searches, speaking to patient organisations, checking with other NHS organisations whether there is any local research on patient views and seeking direct feedback from service users if required. Patients and other groups also have the opportunity to comment on the draft recommendations and influence their final form through a national open meeting which is held for each draft SIGN guideline. Further detail on these policies is available on the SIGN website at www.sign.ac.uk.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will enable patients to rate hospitals according to the quality of care that they have received.

Nicola Sturgeon: Better Together, Scotland’s Patient Experience Programme will be publishing the provisional results of the 2009-10 inpatient experience survey on the Scottish Government and Better Together Websites on 27 July 2010. This provisional release will provide a report on patients experiences of admission, ward and hospital environment, staff, medicines and discharge for each hospital in Scotland where the number of responses are above 20 patients. The reports will identify the top 10 and bottom 10 scoring questions for each hospital. The report will also show where a hospital’s positive percentage for a particular question is significantly less than the Scotland positive percentage. This will enable NHS boards and their patients to identify where a hospital is provide a high quality experience for its patients and where there are areas for improvement. These provisional results will then be updated and presented in a national report which will be published on the 28 September 2010 on the Scottish Government and Better Together Websites. The national report will provide Scotland level results and comparisons between NHS board areas.

Health

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33777 by Alex Neil on 2 June 2010, what issues regarding tackling poverty will be discussed at the meeting between the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Alex Neil: We have yet to confirm what the agenda of the meeting will be.

Health

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33777 by Alex Neil on 2 June 2010, on what date the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing will meet the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Alex Neil: A date has not yet been set for the meeting between the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Health

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33777 by Alex Neil on 2 June 2010, whether there will be a report to the Scottish Parliament on the content of the discussions between the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Alex Neil: I will keep the Parliament informed of the outcomes of discussions with DWP Ministers.

Healthcare Associated Infection

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28469 by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 November 2009, whether the audit of facilities for storing excess soiled bedding and clothing is now complete.

Nicola Sturgeon: As referred to in my answer to S3W-28469, testing of the estates monitoring tool began in January 2010. This work is currently being evaluated, but the tool is a complex one and it is important to ensure that it is fit for purpose and robust before it is fully rolled out. When implemented, the new tool will include an audit of the facilities available for the storage of excess soiled bedding and clothing.

Housing

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33582 by Alex Neil on 21 May 2010, how much it estimates that the proposed National Housing Trust will spend in its first year of operation.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to permit the proposed National Housing Trust to use consultants during its first year of operation.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates that the proposed national housing trust will spend on consultants in its first year of operation.

Alex Neil: Following discussions with stakeholders, and as planned by ministers, Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) staff will co-ordinate the National Housing Trust initiative in liaison with participating local authorities.

  The SFT is using consultants as necessary for the development of the initiative and the costs of this are being met from the SFT’s budget. Further details on the SFT’s budget provision for 2010-11 are available in the current SFT Business Plan, published on the SFT website. It is not expected that use of consultants would be required once the NHT initiative is operational.

  http://www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will assist the National Trust for Scotland in the restoration of derelict cottages on the Isle of Canna in order to encourage more young families to live and work on the island.

Alex Neil: The application of all Scottish Government funding directed at the provision of affordable housing is determined by the relevant local authority, in this case The Highland Council, through their published Housing Strategies.

  Consequently the National Trust for Scotland’s first contact should be with Highland Council in order to assess the priority for housing investment in Canna, based on key indicators, including housing demand and need.

  The Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Investment Programme offers a wide range of housing grants, the full extent of these can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/Investment/grants.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33859 by Alex Neil on 2 June 2010, whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority of the 1,200 rent penalty notices issued to unregistered landlords.

Alex Neil: Details are as follows:

  Rent Penalty Notices Issued Between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2010

  

Local Authority
 


Aberdeen City
0


Aberdeenshire
15


Angus
0


Argyll and Bute
0


Clackmannanshire
6


Dumfries and Galloway
0


Dundee City
0


East Ayrshire
56


East Dunbartonshire
69


East Lothian
189


East Renfrewshire
5


City of Edinburgh
3


Eilean Siar
0


Falkirk
0


Fife
28


Glasgow City
462


Highland
0


Inverclyde
0


Midlothian
0


Moray
0


North Ayrshire
0


North Lanarkshire
0


Orkney
5


Perth and Kinross
4


Renfrewshire
34


Scottish Borders
15


Shetland Islands
0


South Ayrshire
0


South Lanarkshire
357


Stirling
1


West Dunbartonshire
0


West Lothian
0


 
1,249

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unregistered landlords it estimates that there are in each local authority.

Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally. Each local authority would be best placed to estimate numbers in its own area.

  However, in March 2009 the Review of the Private Rented Sector in Scotland estimated the number of households living in the sector to be 233,000. Private landlords must register themselves, and all the properties that they let.

  Up to 31 May 2010, 217,032 properties were approved with a further 9,660 awaiting decision. Although the exact numbers in the sector are subject to constant change, this indicates that about 97% of properties are now covered by registration based on the estimate in the review.

Mental Health

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek a parliamentary debate on Scotland’s national dementia strategy and, if so, when.

Shona Robison: We intend to seek a parliamentary debate on the dementia strategy in autumn 2010.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that healthcare professionals working in the NHS who are not native English speakers have passed robust language and competence tests.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is the responsibility of employers as part of the selection process to satisfy themselves that candidates have the required level of communication skills to function in the role providing high quality, safe and effective patient care.

  This is for the employer to determine when the job description is drawn up and to be applied during the short-listing and interview process.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the 68 medical post job losses in the NHS, broken down by (a) speciality, (b) grade and (c) NHS board.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the 1,523 nursing post job losses in the NHS, broken down by (a) post description, (b) band and grade and (c) NHS board.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the 230 allied health professionals’ (AHP) post job losses in the NHS, broken down by (a) type of AHP, (b) band and grade and (c) NHS board.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the job losses in each NHS board where substitution with less skilled staff is proposed or is taking place, broken down by (a) type, (b) band and (c) NHS board, and whether it will list the same breakdown for the substitute posts.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many midwife posts are being reduced in the NHS, broken down by (a) band and (b) NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not centrally available.

Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers are seconded to the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, broken down by police force.

Kenny MacAskill: On 10 June 2010 there were 211 police officers on secondment at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. The following table breaks down these secondees by their home police force.

  Number of Secondees at SCDEA

  

Police Force
 


Central
7


Dumfries and Galloway
8


Fife
9


Grampian
19


Lothian and Borders
38


Northern
7


Strathclyde
113


Tayside
8


British Transport Police
2


Total
211

Scottish Government Ministers

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates ministerial directions, as described under section 6.4 of the current Scottish Ministerial Code regarding a course of action that the Accountable Officer considers would breach the requirements of propriety or regularity, have been issued since 1999; which minister each direction was issued by, and what the subject was of each direction.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish all ministerial directions, as described under section 6.4 of the Scottish Ministerial Code, that have been issued since 2007.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive which ministerial directions issued since 2007, as described under section 6.4 of the Scottish Ministerial Code, have been formally discussed at (a) Cabinet, (b) between the issuing minister and other ministers and in which cases the issuing minister received advice on the direction from special advisors.

John Swinney: Since devolution there have been no occasions where Accountable Officers have sought an authority on the grounds of propriety or regularity. There have however, been five occasions where Accountable Officers have sought an authority on value for money grounds, two of which were on the same issue. The following table gives more detail:

  

Description
Background
Minister
Date


Campbeltown to Ballycastle Ferry Service
In the light of the financial and economic appraisals that were carried out officials had advised ministers that, with a high anticipated subsidy requirement and a low level of forecast employment creation, the project represented very poor value for money in terms of the probable costs and economic benefits.
Wendy Alexander
29-01-02


Lifeline Air Services Glasgow & Barra
Officials advised ministers that the savings from the withdrawal of air services out of Barra would have a positive NPV for the Sound of Barra vessel. An instruction was therefore sought to act on the ministers’ decision to continue the Glasgow - Barra air service.
Iain Gray
19-03-03


Relocation of Scottish Natural Heritage
SNH were subject to a relocation review in pursuance of the Executive’s relocation policy. Their main headquarters functions were housed in two buildings in Edinburgh. The option appraisal showed that a move to anywhere outside Edinburgh would be significantly more expensive than the status quo.
Ross Finnie
26-03-03


Campbeltown to Ballycastle Ferry Service 
In light of the financial and economic appraisals that had been carried out officials had advised ministers that, with a high subsidy requirement and a low level of forecast employment creation, the project did not pass the value for money appraisals applied to such proposals. (The 2002 instruction did not cover this tendering exercise – it was effectively spent at the conclusion of the previous tendering exercise.)
Nicol Stephen
30-03-05


HMP Bishopbriggs
The Accountable Officer was concerned that cancelling the competition for a PFI design, build and operate contract and beginning a new competition to design and build a prison for public sector operation would result in significant additional expenditure - because of the gap in cost efficiency between public and private operation - and import significant delay into the project - because the procurement process would effectively go back to start.
Kenny MacAskill
22-08-07



  Internal convention is that Cabinet procedures for dealing with requests for written authority require any authorities from ministers to be assessed separately by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and cleared by the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister. In providing advice to ministers, special advisors are required to comply with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisors, which sets out their role and duties. A copy of the code is available in the Scottish Parliaments Information Centre (Bib. number 49592).